Migratory beekeeping

Definition

Practised since antiquity — Egyptian hives were moved by boat along the Nile — and now at industrial scale, with around two million colonies moved to Californian almonds each February. It allows colonies to work several flows a season and concentrates disease transmission, drifting and stress in ways stationary beekeeping does not.

Honey records that discuss this

• Milk vetch honeySoft, mild and slightly floral with a faint green-bean freshness — an unassuming honey made in enormous quantity.
• Yapunyah honeyMild and buttery with a light caramel sweetness and a clean finish — smooth in a way that people notice before they notice the flavour.
• Longan honeyIntensely aromatic — caramel, dried tropical fruit and a distinctive musky floral note that is unlike anything in the European catalogue.
• Mustard honeyVery sweet and very mild with a faint pungent brassica note when fresh, fading to clean blandness as it ages and sets.
• Chinese jujube honeyRich and dark with dried dates and burnt caramel, and a genuine bitterness on the finish that sets it apart from its Middle Eastern relatives.
• Goji honeyLight and clean with a soft red-fruit note and a faint herbal edge — mildly fruity rather than obviously berry-like.
• Berseem honeyMild and clean with a soft floral sweetness and a faint hay note — the archetype of an unassuming everyday honey.
• Ajwain honeyAromatic and faintly medicinal, with a clear thyme-and-caraway note over light amber sweetness.

Plant records that discuss this

• Chinese milk vetchVery high nectar delivered at vast scale in early spring, and the anchor of migratory beekeeping across southern China.
• Talh acaciaA major dry-season source across the Sahel and Arabia, and the backbone of migratory beekeeping in Sudan.